{"id":34705,"date":"2022-10-24T07:57:55","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T10:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=34705"},"modified":"2026-04-23T03:40:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:40:26","slug":"victorian-agr-calls-for-specific-opening-hours-for-gambling-machines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/victorian-agr-calls-for-specific-opening-hours-for-gambling-machines","title":{"rendered":"Victorian AGR calls for specific opening hours for gambling machines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Alliance for Gambling Reform is calling for poker machine venues to be closed between midnight and 10am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Australia.- <strong>The Alliance for Gambling Reform <\/strong>continues to&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/victorian-agr-calls-for-stake-limits-and-fixed-closing-time-for-slots\" target=\"_blank\">push for stronger laws<\/a>&nbsp;on gambling machiens. Its new policy paper proposes reduced opening hours for machines, claiming that in some areas customers are able to play on gambling machines 24 hours a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The AGR said that while <strong>venues in Victoria can currently only open for 20 hours a day<\/strong>, the specific hours are undefined. That means venues can stagger their operating hours, which means some areas have 24-hour access to electronic gaming machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tim Costello<\/strong>, chief advocate for the AGR,<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>said: &#8220;Given the enormous harm poker machine losses wreak on our State there is no need for venues to be open into the early hours of the morning.&nbsp;We need to do much more to protect people who are vulnerable, the industry certainly cannot be trusted to act sensibly or compassionately.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The policy paper states critical actions &#8220;must be taken to reduce and prevent gambling harm for the overall health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It gives the following recommendations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Opening hours of gambling rooms<\/strong> that contain Electronic Gambling Machines (EGMs) should be restricted from midnight to 10am across the country.<\/li><li>The Alliance accepts<strong> there needs to be an incremental change to opening hours over time<\/strong> and therefore urges jurisdictions to initially impose a uniform closure with in all venues in the state or territory.<\/li><li>The Alliance is clear that<strong> these incremental changes need to happen as fast as possible<\/strong>, and not be weakened by industry pressure. There needs to be bipartisan support on the issue and it should be written into legislation.<\/li><li>There should be a commitment from state governments to<strong> provide alternative spaces to fill the need for people using EGM venues<\/strong> as a refuge and safe place.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The report stresses that the operating hours of poker machine rooms in Australia need to be significantly reduced to prevent and reduce gambling harm in Australian communities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It states: &#8220;The Alliance accepts this may need to be incremental change over a number of years, however it should not be watered down by industry as other harm reduction measures have been historically.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>See also:&nbsp;<\/strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/australia-player-losses-on-ballarat-pokies-reach-us3-6m-in-august\" target=\"_blank\">Australia: player losses on Ballarat pokies reach US$3.6m in August<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Alliance for Gambling Reform is calling for poker machine venues to be closed between midnight and 10am.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":20627,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Alliance for Gambling Reform (AGR) is advocating for nationwide restrictions on Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) operating hours in Australia, proposing a mandatory closure between midnight and 10 am. This initiative aims to mitigate gambling harm, citing current regulatory loopholes that permit 24-hour access in some jurisdictions despite existing 20-hour limits. The AGR emphasizes the need for legislative action, bipartisan support, and incremental implementation resistant to industry pressure.","focusai_entities":"Alliance for Gambling Reform, AGR, Tim Costello","focusai_location":"Australia, Victoria","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (1.0), product_ux (0.7), marketing_crm (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"EGM Revenue Impact?","query":"What is the projected Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) impact for major Australian EGM operators if the proposed midnight to 10 am operating hour restrictions are fully implemented across all states and territories?"},{"label":"Regulatory Implementation Strategy?","query":"How would the proposed incremental implementation strategy for EGM operating hour restrictions be structured to ensure uniform application across jurisdictions while mitigating immediate operational disruption for licensed venues?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,156],"tags":[23911,23907],"class_list":["post-34705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-regulation-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-land-based-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34705"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34743,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34705\/revisions\/34743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}